As the man who followed — not "replaced" — a legendary broadcaster, Brad Nessler may know how Didi Gregorius feels. (Gregorius became the Yankees' shortstop after Derek Jeter.)

Nessler returned to CBS in 2016 to fill a seat held by Verne Lundquist, whose broadcast abilities are exceeded only by his gregarious nature. "Everybody Loves Verne" would have been a hit sitcom around the CBS compound.

Lundquist retired as the CBS lead play-by-play voice for college football after the 2016 season. Nessler, 61, was hired to take over that role, and he also is filling in for Lundquist for next week's NCAA Basketball Tournament. Lundquist, 77, had back surgery in the fall and hopes to return to the broadcast booth for next month's Masters.

So Nessler, whose national broadcast career began in the early 1990s at CBS, is back at the network. In between, he worked for ABC and ESPN, calling college football and basketball for 24 years. He worked NBA games from 2002 to 2004 and was NFL Network's play-by-play man for Thursday Night Football from 2011 to 2013.

At this week's NCAA media seminar, Nessler talked about his career and the burden of being the announcer following Lundquist.

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Q: When you worked at CBS before, did you get a chance to do the NCAA Tournament?

A: Yeah, three years. I think it was '90, '91 and '92.

Q: So you had to do the four games in one day (which happens in the first round for all CBS/Turner announcing crews)?

A: They used to tell us if the hotels are close enough in proximity to the arena, you might want to just take a break, go back and take a shower and change your shirt and tie until you got to the next two games because it will make you feel like a different day. I did that once. It didn't make any difference at all. I could have just sat there the whole time.

Q: Was the NCAA mentioned when you came back to CBS? You returned to do SEC football, right?

A: Yeah, but I wanted to come back and do hoops, too. Last year just didn't work out, but that's somebody else's decision, not mine. I know they have people in place and all that kind of stuff, and it's not just CBS's decision, it's the Turner folks, too. I wanted to get back in it.

There was a time when Sean (McManus, CBS Sports chairman) said, 'Do you want to do just football, like Keith Jackson did?' I said, 'Someday, but not right now.' I like doing hoops, so I want to be part of it.

Q: It's unusual for someone to come back to where they worked before. Had a lot changed when you came back?

A: You know what's really weird? When I came back for football, my producer was Craig Silver 27 years ago or whatever, he's still my producer on football. The theme music is the same for football and basketball. When I came back, when you have to do billboards and stuff, pre-taping things, the music comes back, and it just comes back. It was not a big transition at all.

Jim Spanarkel (a CBS analyst) said, 'You probably feel weird that you're back here and you don't know that many people?' The business is big, but it's not that big. I know probably 50 percent of the people (Monday) night at our dinner, and I was like, this is weird. It s 27 years later, and I still know them. I lot of them are my football crew, but some of the CBS people from way back are still here.

Q: Not only that, but you come back to do football, and you're back with Gary Danielson (who worked with him at ESPN).

A: I know. Second time around. We did 10 years together or whatever. It was like getting a divorce, then getting remarried. It was so easy. We have a blast together.

Q: How was the SEC season? I know you've said you weren't replacing Verne, but did that get better as the year went along?

A: I talk to Verne all the time. We kept him in the loop a lot. He would know, if we were doing an Alabama game, exactly what time we would be with (coach Nick) Saban, meeting, and when Saban would leave the meeting room, and we'd be eating Dreamland Bar-b-que. Then one of us would call Verne and we'd get him on our phone and include him. We worried about his back surgery. We talked to him a lot.

The last time that I really had a conversation, I had to talk to him about Army-Navy, because I had never done it before. I'm like, 'Verne, everybody's hitting me from all sides about Army-Navy, and I don't get it.' He said, 'You will, once you do it.' We went to West Point for a whole day, Annapolis for a whole day. We were in New York for the National Football Foundation deal, so I spent the whole week on the week on the road with our crew, and by the time I got to the game, I got it. And the game was awesome, and I really got it. Verne helped me on that one a lot.

He's always been a huge backer of mine and mentor. We try to keep him in the loop, and I can't wait for him get back to the Masters, hopefully.

Q: Is he doing OK after the back surgery?

A: It went really well for a while, then it got crossways and it wasn't going good, but now it's really good. I'm assuming he's going to be back on 16 for the Masters.

Q: You've done a fair amount of basketball, haven't you, so you're not going into this assignment cold?

A: When I was at ESPN, I probably did 20 games. I've done seven or eight for CBS

Q: You don't know where you're going to be assigned until Sunday night. Do you hop right on your computer as soon as you find out?

A: I can't wait to find out where we're going, who we're doing. It's a cram session. I haven't done it in 26 years, but I remember doing it, and it was like, wow, this is a lot of work. Once you get through the first two games, it's like, OK, we're half done.

As a play-by-play guy, you hope that you're going to see – if you get lucky, you'll get one team; if you're really lucky, you'll get two teams – you might have seen during the regular season. That would be nice if I just saw somebody I've already seen. That would help a lot. Otherwise, it's a cram session, and you try to basic and as good as you can be. The second day is easier, because now you know the teams.

Q: How much have you worked with this NCAA crew?

A: Producer (Ryan Galvin), I just did a game with him a week and a half ago, Virginia Tech and Louisville. I did a couple of games with him last year. Mark Grant's the director who was with me way back at ESPN. That's why I'm telling you the business is small. I know Mark really well. Steve Lavin and I have worked together at ESPN, doing both games and the slam dunk/3-point show that Intersport puts on. You can't prepare for that; that's just crazy. Lav and I have known each other for a long time. Evan, our reporter, I have just met. He seems like an awesome dude, and I've watched him on football, and he's really, really good. We've just tried to know each other the last couple of days.

Some of the guys in the truck are on my football crew, too. We know each other pretty well.

Q: Any memories from the years you did the NCAA before?

A: I did it with so many different people, and I did the women's tournament, too, all three of those years. It was with Annie Meyers Drysdale, and she's a Hall of Famer. Working with her probably made her better just at hoops. She was amazing. Still is. She's awesome.

I wish I had a moment ... I don't have one of those Verne moments where it's Laettner, boom, whatever. I don't remember any of those. I'm hoping this year I have one of those, or a couple of those would be nice.

Q: So after basketball, do you get some time off?

A: As soon as I get done next weekend, I'm on the boat or fishing. I've got classic cars, I mess with those. We go to car shows.

Q: Football season will be here before you know it.

A: I know. I was talking with Kevin Harlan, who's a good buddy of mine from a long time ago, he's like the hardest-working guy in TV. He's the sportscaster of the year, which is awesome for him. He's still got to do the NBA until like June, and then he turns around and does the Packers preseason games, which is August. I'm like, 'Dude, take a break, man.' He just keeps going. I'm semi-retired compared to him.